At Pittsburgh Allegheny, football and academics are the perfect combination

BRICE FLENORY, PROJECT MANAGER AT PITTSBURGH ALLEGHENY K-5, leads the students in football games during recess. He’s the quarterback for all teams, looking to get all students on the field involved. (Photos by Rob Taylor Jr.)

Football is tradition in Pittsburgh.

It unifies strangers. It brings families closer.

And for the past decade, it’s been the recipe in getting students at Pittsburgh Allegheny K-5 to learn teamwork and organization while keeping their grades up.

“I always believe that organized sports teaches students collaboration,” voiced Molly O’Malley-Argueta, principal of Pittsburgh Allegheny K-5, in an interview with the New Pittsburgh Courier, April 8. The interview took place while students in grades 2-5 were playing outside in the field near the school in the “Spring Showdown,” a 15-on-15 two-hand-tag football game. The game was watched by other students and even had students playing instruments in a makeshift band. Some students became de facto cheerleaders, as well. Other students helped to keep score. “I think it’s just helped bring students together that don’t look alike, aren’t from the same neighborhood. We get students from the North Side, East End, we’re a full magnet. (Football) brings them together for a common goal.”

COURIER
EXCLUSIVE

The “Spring Showdown” is the culmination of the football games played on a consistent basis throughout the school year during recess at the school. For the past 10 years, football has been played during recess for grades 2-5, a vision of O’Malley-Argueta but led daily by Project Manager Brice Flenory. He and his team compile stats on the students from the games, and have a Wall of Fame style signage inside the school to recognize the best players over the years. At the end of each school year, Flenory gives out “Golden Footballs,” similar to ESPN’s “ESPY” Awards, where a student is named “offensive player of the year,” “defensive player of the year,” etc.

AARON SCOTT catches a touchdown in the “SPRING SHOWDOWN.”

 

The North Side—
Known for football
Pittsburgh Allegheny students in grades
2-5 have been playing organized football
during recess for 10 years. It’s grown into
a full-fledged season, complete with stats,
All-Star and Pro-Bowl-style games, end of
the year trophies, and even a Wall of Fame.

 

Flenory told the Courier the mission of the student football program is “just to inspire kids, inspire the youth  to be better, to be great; not just on the field but also in academics…give them a chance to shine in front of their parents. This is an opportunity to come show  your talent to not just the school, but the public.”

The “Spring Showdown” had Andre Bowie calling off work to watch the game. His son, Gino Bowie, was a participant.

GINO BOWIE

“For me, it’s just great camaraderie for the kids to get together, and they all seem to be really tied into the movement,” Andre Bowie told the Courier. Also, Andre Bowie is a little league baseball coach, and about six of his players were playing in the football game.

O’Malley-Argueta, after 10 years of football at recess, feels the program is now part of the school’s culture. Back in 2012, she could see how students were itching for an outlet to “play and be constructive, they just didn’t know how to do it yet because they’re little,” she said. “I went to Mr. Flenory and said, ‘We gotta do something.’”

Flenory and O’Malley-Argueta decided on football at recess, and it’s been that way since. Flenory always is the “quarterback” during the games, and students oftentimes rotate from, say, the red team to the blue team. Girls play, too. “It brought everybody together,” O-Malley-Argueta told the Courier. “It was like, ‘Now we’re not at each other because we play on the same team on the field.’”

Don’t expect Flenory to tire as “all-time quarterback” for the student football games. He’s a former basketball standout at Valley High School and played professional basketball in the ABA (Pittsburgh Xplosion, Pittsburgh Phantoms).

DERRIONNA SMITH

The “Spring Showdown” on April 8 was played in, well, football conditions. Temperatures barely above 45, a steady wind, a light rain coming and going. But that didn’t stop students like Derrionna Smith, Malik Davis and Aaron Scott catching touchdown passes. Or Gino Bowie with a long run after catch.

Jaiden Washington, a fifth-grader who played in the game, told the Courier he has a “great time playing with my friends and winning awards.”

PITTSBURGH ALLEGHENY STUDENTS MI’AYRE WHITE, JAIDEN WASHINGTON

And for fellow student Mi’Ayre White, “I’ve never played wide receiver in real football, and this is a chance for me to actually play it,” he told the Courier. “And I get different awards, and sometimes I get to be put on the Wall of Fame. It’s great.”

 THE “SPRING SHOWDOWN” EVEN HAD A BAND…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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